Corvettes

Here’s a Corvette that had its 15 minutes of fame in television history. For sale on eBay is the 1984 Corvette that was driven by Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck of the A-Team series. It was the only Corvette used during the show’s 1983-87 run and featured a custom red stripe that went around the entire car. The Corvette is documented with registrations from Stephen J. Cannell’s production company as well as two empty blank shells found under the passenger seat.

At first glance you might think the Corvette’s driver was doing something stupid and the end result was this damaged car. Our Corvette accidents category is filled with similar tales. That wasn’t the case here as this C4 Corvette was just tending to his own business when he became tangled up in three car incident on Long Island.

In addition to Certification, the Great Hall, and the Mecum Auction, Bloomington Gold offers several other activities during their annual June Corvette-palooza. Click past the jump below to see highlights from the GoldMine, GoldMarket, GoldTour, as well as other parts of this years show.

In 1971 Corvette racer and race car builder John Greenwood was approached by BF Goodrich tires to campaign two Corvettes competing on the company’s new Lifesaver Radial street tires. Three BFG Corvettes, wearing numbers 48, 49 and 50, were built for the campaign in FIA-sanctioned races including Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring.
Featuring ZL-1 racing engines and the patriotic stars & stripes livery, the BFG Corvettes were an instant hit with the fans as Greenwood’s Corvettes were the loudest and proudest at the track. One of the BFG Corvettes, the #49 car, will be one of the featured cars for sale at RM Auction’s Monterey event in mid-August.

Wayne Bickley’s 1996 Black Corvette and its supercharged 396 cubic inch V8 was the epitome of performance. Unfortunately, it was also a target of California’s stringent emissions laws. So instead of fighting the man, Bickley went the opposite direction by dumping the gas-powered V8 engine for an electric motor and a batch of 16-volt batteries. How is the performance of that black Vette now? Check out these videos to see for yourself.

The highlight of the annual Bloomington Gold Corvette show each year is the judging activity. Participants from all over the country converge on the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, IL each June for the once-a-year opportunity to achieve Survivor, Gold, and/or Benchmark awards. At this event, cars don’t compete against one another. Rather they compete against a standard which is the condition in which the car was delivered from the factory. “No better, no worse, no different.” Click past the jump to learn more about the judging awards and to check out some pics from this years certification judging.

June is the traditional model year start for the Corvette and last month the new 2012 Corvette began rolling off the Bowling Green assembly line. The start of production of the 2012 model year singled the end of 2011 models and the final count of Corvette’s produced last year was 13,596 – an 11.5% increase over 2010′s 12,194 production total.

In June 2011, 1,299 Corvettes were delivered to new owners. That was -7.5% off the June 2010′s Corvette sales, which saw an increase in sales due to the introduction of the Grand Sport models. For the 2011 calendar year, Corvette sales are up 8.5% to 6,896. Last year’s numbers for the same time period were 6,355.

We’re not sure what sparked the fire that caused this torch red C5 Z06 to burn to the ground, and the original poster didn’t say, but judging by the way the flames are dancing along the ground, it definitely looks fuel related. A lot of money went into this car for the opportunity to play in the 1000 hp club and in just a few minutes it was all gone.

Fifty-eight years ago today, the world’s first production Corvette rolled off its Flint, Michigan assembly line which was located at a small factory on Van Slyke Road, next to the Flint Truck Plant. On June 30, 1953, the chevrolet workers who built the first Corvettes gathered around VIN 001 for this group photograph. In that first year of production, only 300 of the Polo White two-seaters would be built and all were assembled by hand.

The atmosphere at this year’s Bloomington auction was interesting. The tent was generally full of bidders and spectators all weekend. Surprisingly, though, bids were hard to come by at times. This can be seen in the numerous cars that sold for less than $10,000. On the flip side of this were the high-end cars. The 1971 ZR2 opened and bidding promptly stalled at $400k. A few moments later the bid was raised to $410k, the reserve was lifted, and the ZR2 was off to its new home.

Charles D. Fowler, III: I stopped subsribing to both after many years, and within a year or two of even having a “feature” article accepted and published, after meeting Corvette Fever execs at Carlisle. With the merger, I...

Jeff McKay: I also asked a local dealer and they knew nothing about it. How do I order it myself? I think that would be faster than trying to convince them they should know about it.

CrystalKnight: I have always loved the 63, one of my favorite classics of all time, and I have had a many sports cars…, owned and loved the C5 even though it was heavy and underpowered, owned and loved the C6 convertible. ….I...

CrystalKnight: I have always loved the 63, one of my favorite classics of all time, and I have had a many sports cars…, owned and loved the C5 even though it was heavy and underpowered, owned and loved the C6 convertible. ….I...

tonyman262: I have an 89 C4 & an 07 C6, both white. After seeing the CUE system; the daughter may get the 07, I NEED a C7 with the CUE system. The 89 C4 stays with me. The C7 (artic white of course) could just end up being the new...